The bullies in the White House

Many people have wondered why Barack Obama and his team seem to have a soft spot for tyrants. Was it just the anti-Americanism and radicalism imbibed by Barack Obama from his youth and stoked by the ministrations of his minister, Jeremiah Wright and by his pals and comrades such as Bill Ayers and Rashid Khalidi? Or was it just the fad found in academia where Barack Obama has spent so many years?

But maybe it is something else entirely. Maybe Barack Obama just likes their style - and we know this is a man who appreciates style because he seems to be emulating their tactics and strategy. He scolds unfriendly media (i.e, media that tells the truth, such as Fox News), attacks businessmen and uses them as straw men, rails against financiers, places lawyers at the Department of Justice who will do his bidding; fires whistleblowers, such as Inspector General Gerald Walpin who want to do the people's business and not the President's business; and taunts people that he can sic the IRS on them (Richard Nixon has been reincarnated). Barack Obama is getting the hang of "governing" by learning from the worst of the worst. Lately, he is engaging in tactics worthy of the Sopranos, as Michael Tanner puts it in his New York Post column. After describing the Cornhusker Kickback and other parliamentary tricks and bribes, Tanner focuses on how the Oval Office is now twisting arms and doing favors:

And, of course, there has been an unprecedented willingness to ignore congressional rules -- from the failure to appoint a "conference committee" to negotiate differences between the House and Senate bills, to their current plans to use the reconciliation process to bypass a Republican filibuster.

Expect the tactics to get even dirtier now.

Those who support the president can expect favors. No sooner had Rep Jim Matheson (D-Utah) suggested that he might be willing to switch his vote and support the latest version of ObamaCare than his brother was nominated for a federal judgeship.

Alan Mollohan (D-W.Va.) is also on the undecided list. And, purely by coincidence no doubt, the Justice Department just announced that it is dropping an FBI investigation that has been swirling about the congressman. Gosh, if only Charlie Rangel were one of the undecideds.

Those who oppose the president can expect the political equivalent of a horse head between their sheets.

Some of this is just traditional electioneering: On-the-fence Arkansas Sen. Blanche Lincoln is getting a primary challenger with some backing from the national Democratic machine.

But some of it is much nastier. Massa's story may have credibility issues, but other opponents of the bill are also starting to feel the heat. For instance, Rep. Bart Stupak (D-Mich.), whose opposition to abortion funding has become one of the bill's biggest hurdles, is now seeing attacks on his ethics.

So now the Department of Justice is being used for politically inspired non-prosecutions (see also the New Black Panther case).

Recall, Obama is at his most truthful when he speaks extemporaneously, when the Teleprompter and his handlers cannot control him. He said back during the campaign that when adversaries "bring a knife to the fight, we bring a gun." Those are mob rules. It is also the modus operandi of Presidential "governance" in the Age of Obama. These are the Chicago Boys ,after all. Chicago: home of Al Capone, one party-and one-family rule for decades. Alderman politics, city of corruption, and whose political mores have now been writ large.

Many people have wondered why Barack Obama and his team seem to have a soft spot for tyrants. Was it just the anti-Americanism and radicalism imbibed by Barack Obama from his youth and stoked by the ministrations of his minister, Jeremiah Wright and by his pals and comrades such as Bill Ayers and Rashid Khalidi? Or was it just the fad found in academia where Barack Obama has spent so many years?

But maybe it is something else entirely. Maybe Barack Obama just likes their style - and we know this is a man who appreciates style because he seems to be emulating their tactics and strategy. He scolds unfriendly media (i.e, media that tells the truth, such as Fox News), attacks businessmen and uses them as straw men, rails against financiers, places lawyers at the Department of Justice who will do his bidding; fires whistleblowers, such as Inspector General Gerald Walpin who want to do the people's business and not the President's business; and taunts people that he can sic the IRS on them (Richard Nixon has been reincarnated).

Barack Obama is getting the hang of "governing" by learning from the worst of the worst. Lately, he is engaging in tactics worthy of the Sopranos, as Michael Tanner puts it in his New York Post column. After describing the Cornhusker Kickback and other parliamentary tricks and bribes, Tanner focuses on how the Oval Office is now twisting arms and doing favors:

And, of course, there has been an unprecedented willingness to ignore congressional rules -- from the failure to appoint a "conference committee" to negotiate differences between the House and Senate bills, to their current plans to use the reconciliation process to bypass a Republican filibuster.

Expect the tactics to get even dirtier now.

Those who support the president can expect favors. No sooner had Rep Jim Matheson (D-Utah) suggested that he might be willing to switch his vote and support the latest version of ObamaCare than his brother was nominated for a federal judgeship.

Alan Mollohan (D-W.Va.) is also on the undecided list. And, purely by coincidence no doubt, the Justice Department just announced that it is dropping an FBI investigation that has been swirling about the congressman. Gosh, if only Charlie Rangel were one of the undecideds.

Those who oppose the president can expect the political equivalent of a horse head between their sheets.

Some of this is just traditional electioneering: On-the-fence Arkansas Sen. Blanche Lincoln is getting a primary challenger with some backing from the national Democratic machine.

But some of it is much nastier. Massa's story may have credibility issues, but other opponents of the bill are also starting to feel the heat. For instance, Rep. Bart Stupak (D-Mich.), whose opposition to abortion funding has become one of the bill's biggest hurdles, is now seeing attacks on his ethics.

So now the Department of Justice is being used for politically inspired non-prosecutions (see also the New Black Panther case).

Recall, Obama is at his most truthful when he speaks extemporaneously, when the Teleprompter and his handlers cannot control him. He said back during the campaign that when adversaries "bring a knife to the fight, we bring a gun." Those are mob rules. It is also the modus operandi of Presidential "governance" in the Age of Obama. These are the Chicago Boys ,after all. Chicago: home of Al Capone, one party-and one-family rule for decades. Alderman politics, city of corruption, and whose political mores have now been writ large.